Randonneuring and Touring in the Washington, D.C. Region

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A Duathlon A Randonneur Might Like ….

… if a randonneur ran, that is. The Ball Buster Duathlon goes five times around and eight-mile lap of Box Hill, near Dorking, in Surrey, south of London. The first lap is a run, the next three are on bicycle, and the final lap is a run. Sound boring? Perhaps, but in those 40 miles you get a total of 6,164 feet of climbing (measured by a Garmin Forerunner 305)–more than double the randonnee standard, which doesn’t require you to dismount from your bike. The upsides: Narrow wooded lanes, a switchbacked climb over pasture and downland, and relatively short duration.

It gets a randonneur quotient of four of 10, getting points for scenery and challenge, but lacking in distance and geographic scale.